PADDLE BE LIKELY
■ ‘ SEA UALLY CLOSED’ WHEN HE WAS ON BEACH HOLIDAY ■ ADMITS ‘WITH BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT’ HE SHOULD HAVE COME HOME EARLIER ■ AND NOW HE SAYS ‘EVERY HOUR COUNTS’ IN RACE TO RESCUE AFGHANS FROM TALIBAN
DOMINIC RAAB has been ridiculed after saying reports he was at the beach on holiday as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban were incorrect because ‘the sea was closed’ during his stay.
The foreign secretary’s excuse yesterday came as he again defended his decision to jet off to the Greek island of Crete while Taliban fighters closed in on Kabul and British troops flew out to help evacuation efforts.
Mr Raab repeated his regret at going on his luxury jaunt to the Amirandes Boutique Hotel, which reportedly cost as much as £40,000 and where he was said to have played paddle tennis, adding: ‘Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I wouldn’t have gone away.’
He said he was now focused on ensuring British nationals and at-risk Afghans were evacuated from Kabul before the Taliban’s August 31 deadline.
His claims came as Sky News reported a senior British source believed there was a ‘very high risk of a terrorist
attack’ against allied forces involved in the airlift operation.
Mr Raab added: ‘ We will use every hour and day we’ve got to maximise that throughput to get as many of those residual cases out. We’re going to keep going for every day and every hour that we’ve got left.’
The minister’s fellow hotel guests had told reporters they witnessed him lounging at the complex’s private beach with his wife Erika on Sunday August 13 – the same day the Taliban declared victory.
While he was spotted ‘occasionally’ checking his phone, he also found time to swim in the sea and play paddle tennis, before eventually returning to the UK on a flight, which landed in the early hours of August 16, according to the Daily Mail.
But an indignant Mr Raab insisted yesterday: ‘I was engaged in meetings. The stuff about me lounging around on the beach all day is just nonsense.
‘The stuff about me paddle boarding? Nonsense – the sea was actually closed. There was a red notice.
‘I was focused on the Cobra meetings, the foreign office team, the director and the director general, and the international engagement.’
Opposition parties have already called on Mr Raab to resign over his trip after it emerged last week he had been ‘unavailable’ during his break to make a crucial phone call to his Afghan counterpart about evacuating translators who had helped British troops during the occupation.
And critics – who questioned if the sea being closed off would have prevented him from relaxing on the beach or playing paddle tennis – said Mr Raab’s latest excuse did not hold water.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy called Mr Raab ‘a catastrophic joke who should be sacked’.
TV writer Mollie Goodfellow tweeted: ‘“The sea was closed” sounds like a lie a parent would tell their children because they don’t want to go to the beach.’
Comedian Rachel Parris compared Mr Raab to the prime minister’s former aide Dominic Cummings – mocked last year for saying he went for a lockdown drive to Barnard Castle to check his eyesight – and Prince Andrew, who said allegations he sweated excessively before having sex with a 17-yearold were untrue because he was unable to perspire at the time.
Reports at the weekend claimed a senior No.10 official had advised Mr Raab against going on holiday.
But Boris Johnson intervened and said he could go after all. Mr Raab insists he was in constant contact with officials during his trip. The Foreign Office said he had been overseeing its response to the situation in Afghanistan ‘throughout, including engaging with international partners and directing the [UK’s] emergency response centre’.
Metro has asked the Amirandes hotel if the sea was closed off to swimmers but did not receive a response.